Chapter 1
I couldn't breathe or move for that matter. Maybe I didn't dare or maybe I really just couldn't. It had been 8 weeks since he had kidnapped me. 8 weeks since I had seen my family. He wanted me to suffer before he killed me.
The Day Before I Went Missing
I'm dead! I was supposed to be there thirty minutes ago. I can not lose this job. I took my phone out of my pocket and rapidly dialed my best friends number. She had worked there a year before me. Without her, I would have never landed a job at the Modeling Center. I heard her soft voice through the car radio. " Hello?" She answered, sounding worried. " Hey Kenzie, I know I'm late but there was a problem with the dog and these new neighbors knocked on my door so I couldn't just leave them! Oh yeah and then I couldn't find my keys!" I breathed in, going so fast explaining I almost forgot to breathe.
I pulled in the parking lot. I turned off my car but then I paused. I realized that Kenzie hasn't said a word yet. Don't get me wrong usually she is very calm but she still gets mad at me for being late. " Kenzie, you there?" I leaned into the radio speaker, eager to hear what she had to say. " I'm here. What do u need?" I leaned back trying to not yell at her for not listening.
I looked at the time and flew out of the car while hanging up on Kenzie. Then, I buried my phone in my purse, running to the doors. On the way, I checked my makeup then yanked the door open. I checked the clock on the wall. Great! I was now an hour late. Even though I didn't think my boss would be mad, the other girls didn't like me already.
Kenzie said that it was because I was prettier but I didn't believe her. Right, when I walled in Something felt weird. And that is when I heard a man's voice yelling to sit down. At first, I didn't understand what was going on. My mind was in a daze, but I soon snapped out of it. The yelling was coming from the conference room down the hall, right around the corner. I hesitated for a second but then slowly started to creep down the hall. I heard a gun go off and I froze. Not sure to turn back and call the police or try to save my friend by myself. Of course, I choose to save my friend and not risk her while the police tried to get here.
The man was still yelling at people to sit down, hold their hands up, and shut up. The closer that I got the more my heart started to race, feeling like it was coming out of my chest. I had reached the end of the hallway and I paused. I gathered some courage and peeked around the corner. There were almost 23 people, but there was one person that stood out to me.
My best friend was in the middle of the conference room, laying very still. People were gathered around her and that's when I remembered that the gun was fired. There was a man in the middle of all of them, moving the gun from person to person trying to scare them almost. Every time he turned the way I ducked behind the wall. Then 5 seconds later I would look back. The girl was still surrounded by our co-workers and I could hear gasping for breath even though I was about 65 feet away.
I had to call the police. There was no way I had a chance of getting to her. I turned back down the hallway to see that my purse was gone. I paused in my tracks and noticed the yelling stopped. Shit! I turned to the corner and pulled my head around. What? The man hadn't moved he just shut up. Did he know I was here? He had to have done this before because he was to calm. The lady that worked behind the desk was getting his money and he wasn't rushing like every robber. He did have a backpack in his other hand that was filled with watches and jewelry. I looked at everyone's wrists and necks. They had no watches but its marks were last on them. The man had a black mask on along with his clothes. There were holes for his eyes and mouth. He had a smirk the whole time I had been looking at him I realized. He was either happy about this or something else. He faced the opposite way of me and was looking towards Kenzie. When he did a mid 20-year-old girl looked around and paused when she saw me. She looked back and forth between me and the man while mouthing something. I couldn't tell though because if her movement. I did pick up on some of it. Another.... Watch Out! I was missing out on something in between. Another what? Oh my god. What if she meant another robber?! My purse! I didn't lose it, someone moved it. I slowly tiptoed backward still looking at the girl. I held a finger up to my mouth and she nodded.
Next, I felt a gun to the side of my head and a hand around my neck. My whole body tensed as I realized that when I looked in the room, there was a shooter. That meant this was a 2 armed men robbery. " Very brave" a man whispered in my ear. He was so close I felt his body warmth.
